Daily Narrative
Not all that exciting a tourist day but one of the best we have had yet,
simply because of reaching the west coast. We rose, for the last
time, ridiculously early to beat the heat getting out of the desert.
We had to cross the Mohave this morning and feel it is not to be trifled
with. We were rolling by 6:00am and actually through Barstow and
on the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains by 10:30am. Unfortunately,
we took one exit before we intended to and, rather than diving into the
temperature sanctuary of the "mountains", we skirted along the desert edge
of them for another half hour or so. Not really a big deal, but beginning
to feel a little predictable. We finally rose up off of the desert
floor and enjoyed a radical temperature drop into the low 90's. We
had toyed with the idea of heading into Los Angeles and doing some touristing,
but the forecast was for 95 degrees there today and, frankly, we are tired
of the irrational weather. We headed through a valley full of orange
groves and palm trees (if I had the road atlas next to me, I'd tell
you which one), where we hit a roadside stand for a huge bag of fresh fruit
for pocket change. We began making eye contact with the Pacific Ocean
around Ventura and stayed in pretty close contact with it on through Santa
Barbara and up West Coast Highway 1 to Oceana. Here we found a crowded
little town (due to the heat in "the valley" we were told), and a campsite
with the best internet connectivity we have seen all trip. We napped
and caught up with web pages and internet news for what was left of the
day, and were both irrationally thrilled to have to put on fleece in the
evening hours.

Daily Pictures

Morning on the Las Vegas strip

A steamboat in the desert, go figure...

That sign says "Welcome to California- where it will be 115
degrees right here today"

This is what would happen if you let Brian start naming roads

In the city of Barstow, the world's largest thermometer.
It's telling you that it is 95 degrees at 8:00am

We eventually reached the San Gabriel Mountains, and due to
a premature exit, failed to enter them and skirted along them on this small
road for another half hour

This is a Joshua Tree, pretty funky huh?

A Joshua Tree forest

Yucca bushes in the foreground, a heavy vegetated hillside in
the background

On the eastern edge of the San Gabriel Mountains, the Mormon
Rocks area

The California aqueduct allows southern Californians to drink
water from places that actually have water naturally

One more Joshua Tree, we are big fans

The beginning of farm land in an improbable landscape

Theresa was very happy to find another type of palm tree to
categorize